Officials have expanded the search for victims of the AirAsia passenger airplane crash. Searchers believe bodies and plane parts have now spread over a larger area. The jet crashed in the Java Sea on December 28. One hundred sixty-two people were on the plane.

Seas were calmer on Monday, but not calm enough underwater to permit divers to bring up more bodies or plane parts. Recovery workers from several countries are involved in the effort to find bodies and wreckage.

Searchers have now been working for nine days. They have found 37 bodies. Bad weather for most of the last week has slowed the search.

Officials still do not know what caused the plane to crash although Indonesia’s weather service says weather conditions may have been involved.

Bombing attack in Saudi Arabia targets border area

A suicide bomber has killed two Saudi border guards and wounded a third in an attack near the Iraqi border.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said the attack happened early Monday in the city of Arar. They say the bomber and another person began shooting at border guards. The guards shot one person before the bomber set off his explosives.

No group has claimed responsibility immediately after the attack.

Saudi Arabia has been taking part in the U.S.-led coalition carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Pakistani airstrike kills 31 militants

The Pakistani government says it has used airstrikes to kill 31 militants along the border with Afghanistan. Also, a suspected U.S. drone strike killed seven militants in the same area. Pakistan said its air force also destroyed four places where terrorists live and a suicide bomber training center in the Tirrah Valley of the Khyber tribal district.

Pakistan has been targeting Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militants in the area since October.

Indian police make arrest in rape case

Police in India have detained five men whom they believe took part in the suspected kidnapping and rape of a Japanese woman last month.

The young woman had been visiting Kolkata. She said three men showed her places in eastern India. They then traveled with her to the site of one of India’s holiest Buddhist temples, in the state of Bihar. She says two more men joined them. She says the men held her and repeatedly raped her.

Police say the woman escaped and reached the Japanese consulate in Kolkata where she made a report.

Taiwan’s former president released from jail over health

The former president of Taiwan Chen Shui-bian left prison Monday because of his worsening health. A court found him guilty in 2009 of bribery and other charges related to corruption. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Chen has served six years of that sentence. The former president had angered China for his support of Taiwan’s independence.

Chen called the charges against him part of a political plot.

His lawyer added that a group of 15 medical experts said Chen should receive treatment outside of prison.

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Words in This Story

recovery-n. the process of returning something that has been lost

district-n. an area of a country, city or town established by a government

site-n. a place where something is

bribery-n. the crime of giving or accepting a bribe, an illegal payment